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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What term does Styron give to the loss of a parent or something early in life?
(a) Insurmountable loss.
(b) Lifelong loss.
(c) Incomplete mourning.
(d) Dark depression.

2. For Styron, what do the black whirling stars of Van Gogh represent?
(a) Precursors of his plunge into dementia and self-annihilation.
(b) The darkness of depression.
(c) The beauty of the night sky.
(d) The everlasting nature of man's soul.

3. Which novel character does Styron compare himself with?
(a) Captain Ahab from "Moby Dick."
(b) Emma Bovary from "Madame Bovary."
(c) Lennie from "Of Mice and Men."
(d) Rhett Butler from "Gone With the Wind."

4. What is a daily presence during the depth of Styron's depression?
(a) Tears
(b) His wife.
(c) Death.
(d) His children.

5. What aspect of depression parallels the threshold of pain?
(a) The inability of the depressed person to absorb pain beyond predictable periods of time.
(b) Its pervasiveness.
(c) Its unrelenting nature.
(d) Its deep intensity.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens to persons in physical pain that is not experienced with mental pain?

2. What is the hardest piece of writing Styron attempted during his depression?

3. Styron dates the onset of his deep depression to what event?

4. How does Styron respond to the experimental approach?

5. Why does Styron say depression was no stranger when it came to him?

(see the answer keys)

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